Four years after 176 people were killed after Iran shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, several countries filed a dispute with the International Civil Aviation Agency (ICAO). Canada, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Sweden have jointly submitted a complaint aiming to hold the Islamic Republic responsible for the “unlawful downing” of the Ukrainian passenger airliner.
The Ukraine International Airlines Flight was shot down in January 2020, just minutes after takeoff from the Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA) in Tehran, killing 176 people on board. The majority of the dead were citizens from the four countries, which created a coordination group and tried to hold Iran accountable.
Despite initially denying responsibility, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) eventually admitted that its missiles had downed the flight. Iran says its Revolutionary Guards accidentally shot down the Boeing 737 jet and blamed a misaligned radar and an error by the air defense operator at a time when tensions were high between the country and the US over the killing of its top general, Qasem Soliemani.
The Islamic Republic also set compensation at $150,000 for the families of each of the 176 victims. However, at that time, Ukraine said that the compensation should be set through negotiations, taking into account international practice, after establishing the causes of the tragedy and bringing those responsible to justice.
In a joint statement on Monday, January 8, the four countries said that they “have jointly initiated dispute-settlement proceedings before the International Civil Aviation Organization against the Islamic Republic of Iran for using weapons against a civil aircraft in flight.”
These countries hold that Iran had been unwilling to engage in negotiations or take full legal responsibility for downing the flight. They are now instituting proceedings in the hope that the action at the ICAO council and filing at the International Court of Justice can lead to real change and prevent similar tragic losses in the future.
Last year, the four countries initiated legal proceedings against Iran at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest court, saying that Iran “violated a series of obligations” under a convention on civil aviation by shooting down the plane. They urged the court to compel Tehran to publicly acknowledge its “internationally wrongful act”, apologize, and pay compensation to the families of the victims involved in the incident.
They accuse Iran of failing to take all practical measures to prevent the destruction of the passenger plane and conducting “an impartial, transparent, and fair criminal investigation and prosecution consistent with international law” afterward.
Iran has repeatedly rejected the accusations, saying the other governments were trying to “politicize” the issue and exert pressure on Tehran.
Canada cut diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic in 2012, listing the country as a supporter of extremism due to the country’s backing of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria. In 2022, Ottawa imposed new sanctions on Iran, alleging it of human rights abuses and referencing the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died while in the custody of Iran’s morality police.
